


Lovebending

by Uncle2fire



Category: The Maze Runner Series - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, I hope you like it, M/M, ish, the gladers are all benders like from Avatar the Last Airbender, what even is this?
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-11-07
Updated: 2017-08-22
Packaged: 2018-08-29 17:56:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 11,555
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8499619
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Uncle2fire/pseuds/Uncle2fire
Summary: The Newtmas/ATLA AU that no one asked for, but I wrote anyways.The gladers are all students at a prestigious school teaching young people bending. Adventures and romance soon ensue.If you've never seen Avatar: the Last Airbender, then 1) you really should watch it, and 2) this might not make any sense to you.





	1. Chapter 1

The sunlight was perfect. The way it was filtering through the guy’s hair was giving him a bright halo, hovering just above what was probably very soft golden hair. Thomas thought he looked like an angel standing there talking happily. He wasn’t totally sure what he was talking about so happily, considering how he was, well…distracted, by his hair.

He’d introduced himself as Newt at the start of the tour, and seemed as content as could be showing the new students around campus, smiling happily and eagerly answering questions. He seemed totally in his element there, which made Thomas a little jealous, since he was so nervous to be there. It was the first time he’d really been away from home, and he was having trouble knowing what to expect.

\--

The Glade Academy was the newest and already the most prestigious bending school in the world. Thomas had been lucky enough to catch the attention of the firebending instructor, Jorge, who had visited his town earlier in the year, and insisted he come to join the school’s incoming class. Thomas hadn’t thought his bending was anything special, but apparently he was wrong. The instructors at the Glade were free to choose any students they wanted, and usually only picked three every year; or so he’d heard. Jorge had said that there was one instructor for each art, and usually ten students per art at the school, and that Thomas would make a fantastic addition to the student community, whatever that had meant. He’d come almost immediately, with his parents’ blessing, and now here he was, with three other new students, getting a tour from probably the most handsome guy he’d ever seen. And all that in just a month, too.

\--

“Down this hill, around the bend, is the training arena. Students are all free to make use of it, as long as they clean up after themselves when they’re done.” Newt had grumbled the last part almost under his breath, and Thomas chuckled softly at the idea of Newt getting salty at people leaving a mess in the arena, whatever that might look like.

If Thomas had to guess, he’d bet that Newt was an airbender. He had the right body type for it. He was slim, almost skinny. Thomas might have called him lithe, if he had been looking for a slightly less innocent word to use. He had an air of confidence that made him seem more graceful, like the other airbenders Thomas had met a few times. Imagining Newt airbending just made Thomas more sure, because he couldn’t imagine anything more beautiful or natural than that.

“You may have noticed that the walkways on campus are made of stone pavers.” Newt gestured to the ground beneath their feet, as they walked across campus after looking through the sleeping quarters. Thomas had to admit that he hadn’t noticed the paths under his feet at all during the tour. “They’re all basalt, to give our earthbending students easy access to rock they can bend.” Newt tapped his heel easily on the ground, and one of the pavers jumped into the air and floated there, as he spun it around and then dropped it perfectly back into the walkway. “So, let’s move on to the eating arrangements then, shall we?”

Thomas was surprised, to say the least. An earthbender was the last thing he would’ve pegged Newt as. His body type seemed all wrong…for earthbending that is. Thomas shook his head, trying to clear some of his thoughts. He had absolutely no problems with Newt’s body the way it was. None at all…

\--

At the end of the tour, Newt excused himself, and Thomas tried to keep himself from staring after him by trying to talk with the other new students there. They seemed mostly as unsure as Thomas was, so that was comforting, and it seemed like they too had been invited to the school just a month or so earlier, by the other instructors, and all four of them agreed that they didn’t consider themselves particularly prodigious benders.

Teresa, a waterbender, said that she had met Ava Paige, the waterbending instructor, as she was passing through Teresa’s town, and she had insisted that Teresa should attend the Glade. Teresa wasn’t sure, but her parents were overjoyed, and insisted she at least enroll for the first year. Aris, another waterbender, had pretty much the same story, and was from a town not far from Teresa’s. The last one in the group, Winston, was probably the most nervous of the four of them. An airbender from practically the other side of the world, as far as Thomas was concerned, Winston seemed nervous about everything. As it turned out, he’d actually run away from home when his parents refused to let him enroll at the Glade. So Thomas’ situation could definitely have been worse.

As the conversation between the four of them started to peter out, Teresa and Aris excused themselves and walked off towards the waterbending grounds, next to the lake at the edge of campus. Winston seemed to wander off vaguely in the direction of the airbending grounds, and Thomas found himself just standing there, wondering if he should make his way to the firebending grounds, or just hang around where he was.

“Thomas, isn’t it?”

Thomas jumped a little, as Newt seemed to appear out of nowhere behind him. Newt must have ignored the jump Thomas had made, because there was no way he’d missed it. Thomas heard his voice crack as he answered. “Yeah, that’s right.”

“Firebender?” Newt was looking him up and down, with his head tilted slightly to the side, like he was sizing him up.

“Yeah. How did you know?”

Newt shrugged, and seemed to have finished looking him over. “You look like a firebender.”

“Is that a compliment?” Thomas grinned.

“No, but you can take it as one if you want.” Newt was grinning too.

“You’re an earthbender?” Thomas was looking for a way to keep the conversation going.

“Wow, how clever.” Thomas could practically taste the sarcasm dripping off Newt’s voice. “Was it the earthbending that gave it away?”

“Yeah.” Thomas could feel himself blush a little. It had been kind of a stupid question. “Are you one of the upperclassmen?”

Newt snorted and rolled his eyes. “Hardly.”

Thomas was confused. Newt couldn’t really be a new student, since he was giving the new students a tour, could he? “But you’re not a new student?”

“No, no I’m not.” Newt seemed endlessly amused, and was clearly enjoying Thomas’ confusion. He basked in it for a few seconds before continuing. “Mate, I’m the earthbending instructor.”

“But…” That didn’t make anything clearer for Thomas. “But you’re…” He gestured vaguely at Newt, but wasn’t sure where he was going with the comment.

“So young?” Newt finished his thoughts for him, and didn’t seem surprised at all. If he was the instructor, Thomas realized that he probably got the question a lot. He wouldn’t have guessed that Newt was any older than he was. When Newt spoke again, it was with a dramatic faux-arrogance, and with his nose in the air. “I’ll have you know, I’m a true prodigy. All my teachers’ve said so.”

Thomas chuckled. “You don’t look like an earthbender.”

“What? Too thin?” Obviously Newt got this question a lot too, if his almost-bored reaction was any indication.

“Yeah. I mean, aren’t earthbenders usually more…you know?” Thomas tried using his hands to show a bigger, more muscled person than the slender boy standing in front of him.

“What an enormously out-dated stereotype of earthbenders you have, Tommy. We’re not all giant hunks of muscle, you know.” His tone was playfully pouty, and he practically winked as he finished. “Sometimes it helps to be more…agile.”

“Maybe you could show me sometime?” Thomas had no idea what he was saying, or what he was asking for, but he felt giddy and excited nonetheless.

Newt shrugged noncommittally and looked off across the campus. “There’s always the match tonight?” When he turned to look at Thomas again, his eyes were sparkling. He leaned in a bit closer and Thomas could hear him whispering. “Unless you were hoping for something more…private?”

“I wouldn’t mind it.” Thomas was sure he was blushing like a madman. He’d never flirted with anyone before, and he wasn’t sure how he was managing it with Newt, who seemed to be enjoying the hell out of the whole situation.

“Nor would I, Tommy.” He patted Thomas on the shoulder and started walking off toward the earthbending grounds. “See you at the match tonight, Tommy.”

Thomas turned to look after Newt as he coolly walked away, and felt his heart beating rapidly. He was pretty sure they’d been flirting, but part of him wished he’d been more direct, because he was suddenly lost as to what exactly he and Newt had accomplished in those few minutes.

\--

The arena was about a one-hundred-foot square of bare earth, surrounded by a moat of water, probably to give the waterbending students something to bend, Thomas guessed. He and the other students not participating in the match were sitting in the small raised seating area placed just where the best view of the arena could be had.

The rules, which were new to Thomas, were explained quickly, and they weren’t all that complicated. The upperclassmen who were participating were split into teams of four. The goal was to incapacitate or knock out of the ring each of the opposing team’s members, with the last team standing declared the winner. Competitors were allowed to make use of any resources in the arena, and were encouraged to practice teamwork. Thomas overheard someone else explaining to another new student that the teams had been training together for months to impress the just-arrived students and the instructors. He was excited to watch a real competitive bending match for the first time in his life, and he had exactly no idea what to expect. He was almost distracted enough to not notice that Newt wasn’t anywhere in the viewing area. Almost.

It was Jorge who announced the first match: four earthbenders against two firebenders, a waterbender, and an airbender. As soon as it had started, Thomas was enthralled but lost, with more happening than he could keep up with. Two of the earthbenders pulled up a wall between the teams immediately, as the other two pulled up rocks to hurl across the arena, just for the airbender (Jeff, if Thomas remembered correctly) to redirect them, seemingly with ease, as the waterbender (Sonya?), moved swiftly and fluidly to pick up water from the moat and stream it toward one of the rock throwers (whose named had been announced as Gally), trapping him quickly in a block of ice. One of the firebenders (called Minho) had suddenly managed to launch himself over the rock wall, narrowly avoiding a rock thrown at him by one the wall-raising earthbenders (whose name Thomas had forgotten), before landing a burst of fire on the second wall-raiser’s chest, knocking him backwards. It wasn’t even a second later that Thomas noticed that the fourth earthbender (whose name had been Alby) was suddenly on the far side of the arena, throwing chunks of rock at Jeff, who seemed too agile to be hit, before suddenly Alby was surrounded by a swirling cloud of dust, blocking the far side of the arena from view. It only took a few seconds for Jeff to clear the cloud from the field, but by the time he had, Sonya had been knocked out of the arena somehow, and Alby was dodging fireballs from the second firebender (who Thomas thought had been called Harriet at the start of the match). Between dodges, Alby was managing to launch chunks of earth at Harriet and Jeff.

When Thomas glanced back at the earthbenders’ side of the arena, he found Minho holding his own against both of the nameless earthbenders, one of whom had apparently managed to recover from the fireball to the chest. Minho was doing a good job of dodging their attacks, but couldn’t seem to break through their defensive barriers either. It seemed to Thomas, for the moment, that the match was at a standstill, with Minho and Alby both holding off two opponents. The lull only lasted a few seconds though, before Alby had pulled up another dust cloud. It took Jeff much less time to disperse the second cloud, but Alby was still gone by the time he had, suddenly appearing across the arena, surprising Minho, who didn’t quite manage to dodge Alby’s chunk of rock. He fell backwards, but managed to roll out of the way of a follow-up attack from one of the other earthbenders, as Jeff topped the rock wall on a sweep of air, and knocked the third earthbender off his feet, out from behind his rock barrier, and into the moat at the side of the arena.

Alby seemed surprised to suddenly find his team outnumbered, but almost instantly recovered and, apparently seeing Harriet joining Jeff on top of the rock wall, Thomas watched as he kicked the ground and the wall partially collapsed, forcing her off her balance. Dodging an air swipe from Jeff, Alby managed to launch Harriet off the wall and out of the arena. Turning his attention to Jeff, he was forced to dodge several attacks in a row before pulling up a barrier out of the ground and throwing rock pieces in the airbender’s direction.

Meanwhile, Minho found himself barely out of reach of the upper hand against the last nameless earthbender, who managed to keep avoiding his attacks, without launching any of his own. Thomas was surprised at how so much could happen in only about a minute, and was wondering how long he’d last against any of the benders in the arena. Not long, he guessed.

It didn’t take long for someone to gain the upper hand, though. Alby created another dust cloud, much smaller than the first two, and directed it at Minho, who was caught off-guard, seemingly getting some dust in his eyes and stumbling backwards. Trying to take advantage of the situation, the unnamed earthbender stepped out from his barrier, only to be caught by an air sweep from Jeff, blowing him backwards into the moat. But turning his attention from Alby left him vulnerable, and before the earthbender was fully out of the arena, Alby had launched his rock barrier at Jeff, who only managed to half avoid it, being knocked to the ground and having his legs and arms trapped in rock restraints. Minho, who had recovered from the sand in his eyes quickly, managed to simultaneously hit Alby with a fireball to the chest, knocking him backwards, but not out. A second fireball was blocked by a new barrier pulled from the ground, before a third fireball, larger than the first two, suddenly broke the barrier and knocked Alby off balance for a fourth fireball to push him backwards and into the moat.

The other students cheered, Minho punched the air, and Thomas had just witnessed the most amazing spectacle in his life. He watched as Sonya reentered the field and melted the ice holding Gally, as Minho helped Alby out of the moat, and shook hands with him. That’s when he finally caught sight of Newt. He was strolling on to the field, and casually pushing the earthen walls and barriers back into the ground.

As Jorge congratulated the winners, Alby and the other earthbenders joined the other students in the seating area, with Alby himself sitting down right next to Thomas.

“You’re new here.” It was definitely a statement and not a question, but Thomas replied with a nod anyways. “Well,” Alby continued with a smirk, “you’ll love this. The greenies always do.”

From across the audience, he heard Jorge announcing the second round. “And now, our winners will get a chance to face our all-too-eager earthbending instructor! Let’s see how well they’ll do!”

“Is that fair?” Thomas was nervous and whispering in Alby’s general direction. “It’s four against one!”

“You’re right.” Alby was grinning. “They’d need at least four more benders in there for it to be fair.” He must have seen the look of confusion and concern on Thomas’ face, because he suddenly added, in a more reassuring tone, “Just watch. Trust me.”

\--

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading! Let me know what you think!


	2. Chapter 2

Looking down at the arena, Thomas could see Minho and the rest of his team huddled together while Newt stood idly on the far side of the field, beaming like he was having the time of his life waiting for the match to start. He was rocking back and forth on his heels, with his hands clasped behind his back, and Thomas couldn’t help but admire him from a distance. He’d changed out of whatever he was wearing earlier, or at least Thomas assumed he had, because there was no way he could have not noticed Newt in the clothes he had on now. He was wearing loose black pants and tall grey boots, which Thomas was sure he’d seen earthbenders wear before. His tunic was vaguely olive green, tied off with a dark green belt, and with the sleeves rolled up. All together, it worked extremely well, and it was all very well-fitted. Thomas couldn’t help thinking that Newt’s body really did seem…lithe.

He might have come up with other words for Newt’s body and how he looked in those clothes, but it was right then that Jorge called out for the competitors to take their places for the start of the match. He saw Newt bracing himself, still smiling and still with his hands clasped behind his back.

“He always keeps his hands behind his back.” Alby was leaning over toward Thomas, answering his question before he’d had a chance to ask it. “He says it makes the matches more interesting. Not to mention fairer.”

It was only a second before Jorge called the match to start, with Minho and his team looking grim with concentration and Newt still beaming. As soon as Jorge yelled out, Thomas saw Newt twist his left foot slightly. It was almost too small to notice, and he probably wouldn’t have if he hadn’t been watching Newt so closely. That small movement alone somehow forced Minho, Harriet, and Sonya off their feet, as Jeff jumped in the air and swept a gust of wind in Newt’s direction. With a single fluid motion, continuing from the foot twist, as if he’d known exactly what to expect, Newt pushed his left foot forward, pulling a barrier wall out of the ground before stomping with his right foot. The first move easily blocked Jeff’s forceful gust, and the second, to Thomas’ shock, raised earthen walls around Jeff; before he could react, he was trapped in what looked to Thomas like a rock tent.

Tapping his left heel on the ground, Newt lifted his barrier wall into the air, and with a flick of the same foot, broke it into three pieces, which he launched at the three opponents left on the field. Just as they were managing to get back to their feet, Minho and Harriet were forced to roll out of the way of the rock pieces, while Sonya managed to pull water from the moat beside her into an ice wall. The first two rocks missed, but the third shattered Sonya’s defenses and knocked her backwards into the moat.

Still beaming and holding Thomas enthralled, Newt somehow managed to propel himself into the air, doing an impressive frontflip before landing between Minho and Harriet. The force of his landing seemed to push the rocks around him out of the ground enough to block the two firebenders’ fireballs, before Thomas noticed that the ground seemed to ripple after Newt had landed, knocking both Minho and Harriet off their feet again. With a quick swipe backwards of his left foot, Harriet was launched out of the arena.

Recovering quickly, Minho shot a fireball at Newt, who pulled off a quick backflip, almost before Minho had finished throwing his fire at him, and Thomas was again struck by the almost natural-seeming assumption that Newt had known what to expect from Minho before it had happened. Flipping backwards into the air, Newt seemed to pull a stream of liquefied earth with him, trailing his feet to make a kind of rainbow behind him as he flipped. The stream of earth blocked Minho’s fire and then seemed to fall out of the air as sand, as Newt pushed his left foot quickly to the side, and the ground beneath Minho’s feet seemed to follow suit. With Minho on the ground for the third time, Thomas could tell that Newt was talking to him, though he couldn’t hear any of the words. Newt seemed to have decided to let Minho have another shot, because he was letting the firebender get off the ground without a fight.

“Sometimes he gives whoever’s left a second chance.” Alby seemed amused, while Thomas was more awestricken than anything, especially after being broken from his focus on the match, which, he noticed, had only lasted ten seconds at the most, and Newt had still managed to knock them all out without break a sweat. It was incredible, Thomas thought. Newt was incredible. “The second chances usually go to Minho.” Something about Alby’s tone made Thomas think he was rolling his eyes, and while there was no way he’d take his eyes off Newt to check, it definitely felt like that eyeroll meant a lot more about Newt and Minho’s relationship than he would have wanted it to.

After Minho was back on his feet, Newt seemed to be waiting for him to make the first move, and when he did, Thomas was impressed. He’d never really seen much advanced firebending, but he knew that Minho’s giant fireballs were far beyond his own skill level. Minho was aiming them at Newt and clearly trying to stay light on his feet. Newt for his part was still grinning widely, almost deviously, while easily avoiding Minho’s attacks, and not doing anything to counter them. The first several blasts he dodged, and as Newt had promised earlier, Thomas was fascinated by how agile he was, again assuming almost out of necessity, that he must somehow know what to expect and when to expect it.

After dodging the first few attacks, Newt launched himself into a backflip to avoid the next one, followed by another backflip, and then another quick dodge, before pushing his left foot quickly to the left again, once more pulling the ground out from beneath Minho’s feet and knocking him to the ground. As he fell, Minho managed to throw one last fireball, which Newt managed to block with a quick and easy jab of his right foot to the ground in front of him, pulling up a barrier wall, before he stomped his left foot, sinking Minho just far enough into the ground to incapacitate him, ending with the match with a grin and a bow to the small crowd in the seating area.

Thomas joined the rest of the audience in a standing ovation as Newt pulled Minho out of the ground and pushed the rocks trapping Jeff back into it, giving all his opponents claps on the back and what were probably much-needed words of encouragement after their loss in what must have been 25 seconds total.

“How does he do it?” Thomas was yelling over the applause in Alby’s general direction, still not wanting to look away from Newt, who was all the more gorgeous after the whole display.

“Which part?” Alby was clearly amused. “He’s good at a lot of things.”

“How does he bend without his hands?” Thomas had only ever seen earthbending that made extensive use of the hands. Newt’s style looked unique to his untrained eyes.

“Practice.” The applause had died down enough for Alby to talk normally. “Of course, being a prodigy doesn’t hurt.”

Thomas hadn’t taken Newt’s claims of being a prodigy seriously when they’d met – he thought they were just a part of his faux-arrogance – but after seeing him in action, he found himself reevaluating that position. “So he really is a prodigy, then?”

Alby looked astounded by the question. “Yeah. He’s the youngest earthbending master in the world.” His eyes were still wide in surprise, but his voice started to sound more reverent than anything else. “We’re so lucky to have him as an instructor.”

Thomas watched as Newt walked off the field, toward what he assumed were the earthbending grounds. He heard himself mutter a “wow” under his breath as Newt disappeared from view. When he finally turned to look at Alby, he was looking at him oddly.

“Have you met him?”

“I mean…kind of? We talked for a bit…” Okay, they had flirted for a bit, but that probably wasn’t anything he needed to share with people he didn’t know.

“I see.” Alby’s eyebrows had raised just enough for Thomas to notice, and his earlier expression had morphed into a smirk. “You should come see him.” Alby’s whole demeanor had taken on some kind of vague sense of understanding, but Thomas wasn’t totally sure why. “Newt loves visitors, especially after matches.”

\--

“Hey Newt!” Alby led Thomas into a small one-room building next to the open fields of the earthbending grounds, where he saw Newt washing his face with his back turned to them. “I brought a visitor.” Alby was grinning, clearly overjoyed with himself. “It’s the cute firebender.”

Thomas blushed suddenly. He was about to make a defensive noise uncomfortably close to a squeal, before Newt turned around, towel flung over his shoulder, grinning as happily as ever. “Tommy! How’d you like the match?”

“He was absolutely entranced by your skills, Newt.”

“Oh shove off, Alby.” Newt threw his towel at him. “Why don’t you go find Gally? Try to teach him the sandbending technique you used today. He could use some practice.”

“Sure thing, boss.” Alby started moving toward the door. “That’ll definitely take a while.” He was halfway out the door. “Though I suppose that’s the point…” He glanced meaningfully between Newt and Thomas as he kept inching out the door. “I’ll leave you two alone, then?”

“Alby, just go!” Newt sounded exasperated. Alby just gave a quick salute, as sarcastically as he could, before finally leaving. Newt only sighed when he was gone, leaving a pause in the air as Thomas avoided looking directly at Newt. When he finally did, he found Newt looking directly at him, his eyebrows raised expectantly.

“So…” Thomas scratched the back of his neck awkwardly. “I’m the cute firebender?”

\--

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading! This picture of Bolin from Legend of Korra will give you an idea of what Newt's outfit looks like.
> 
> If you have comments, questions, or prompts, you can send them to me at uncle2fire@gmail.com! <3


	3. Chapter 3

“Well, show me what you’ve got.” Newt was leaning casually against the wall of the earthbending office, gesturing vaguely toward the open ground in front of them, looking at her expectantly.

“What do I do?” Brenda seemed lost.

“Anything you want.” He smirked. “Though earthbending would be preferable.”

She turned around and looked across the empty field, drawing a blank. She didn’t want to mess this up; it was her first time bending in front of Newt, and she felt like she’d totally forgotten how to bend. She’d never thought of her own bending as very impressive, and being invited to the Glade by Newt himself was not at all helpful to her self-confidence. He’d been passing through her town and had invited her without having watched her bend at all; she wasn’t even sure how he’d known she was an earthbender. So, this being her chance to finally impress him, she felt like she could feel her future slipping through her fingers. She’d expected some kind of direction, not for him to just lean back and gesture toward a field.

She glanced around at Newt. He was still leaning there, watching her expectantly, his eyebrows arched. Looking back at the field, she knew she had to do something. From the limited teaching she’d had from an old earthbending tutor back home, she knew that the key to effective earthbending was a sturdy stance, so she took one, before doing the first thing that came to mind. Stepping her left foot over her right, she pushed it into the ground, levitating a chunk of rock in front of her, before kicking it with her right foot and launching it twenty feet forward.

Looking back at Newt again, she found him nodding reassuringly. Feeling better after having at least done something, without having him snicker or send her home, or whatever else she’d been dreading, she turned back to the field to try some of the other things she’d learned in her short training.

Checking her stance again, she pulled her arms up in front of her, bringing a barrier wall up from the ground. Jabbing the ground in front of it with her left foot, she broke it from its base. Kicking it with her right foot, she launched it in the same direction as the first chunk of rock. Feeling like she was finally getting into it, she kicked another rock into the air and, clenching her fists, broke it into pieces before punching each one to throw it in a different direction.

Slightly out of breath and feeling like she’d done enough, she turned back around to look at Newt, who was still leaning casually against the building, but now looked satisfied.

“You have a really sturdy stance.” He pushed off the wall to walk up to her. “Did you have a tutor at home?”

“Yeah.” Brenda was just glad it was a positive comment. “For the last two years, on and off. He’s pretty old. All he ever talked about was stance.” She could still his voice echoing in her head, ‘Earthbending depends on a sturdy stance!’.

“I thought so.” He seemed to be inspecting her stance as he talked. “You should drop it.”

“Drop what?”

Newt looked apologetic. “You should drop your stance.”

“Why?”

“Sturdy stances are a hallmark of classical earthbending. That’s how I could tell your tutor was old.” He started adjusting her stance. “Classical earthbending focuses on resilience, which is why a sturdy stance is ideal. Modern earthbending focuses on agility, which makes a less sturdy stance ideal.” He seemed finished altering her stance. “Earthbenders used to endure attacks and then overpower them. The goal of modern earthbenders is to avoid attacks altogether.”

“But how am I supposed to earthbend without a sturdy base?” Her right foot was positioned directly behind her left, at an angle, and holding most of her weight. She felt extremely unstable.

“Easy. You have to stop thinking of the earth as a tool and start thinking of it as an extension of yourself.” He gestured for her to close her eyes. “Try to feel it.”

With her eyes closed, she did her best to concentrate. It was hard to focus, though, because she had absolutely no idea what it meant to “feel” the earth, as though it were a part of her. As the uneventful seconds ticked by, she started feeling increasingly unsteady in her stance, shifting her weight between her feet to try to balance herself. Something about the whole ordeal was exhausting, and her patience was suddenly wearing very thin.

When she heard a soft sound off to her left, almost like the crunching of leaves, turned her head toward it, only just managing to keep her eyes closed, and noticed that all of a sudden, it seemed very quiet. A second later, another noise, almost the same as the first, made her turn her head back to the right. The third time was different. The sound was louder than before, and sounded more like… she wasn’t sure, and before she’d had a chance to really listen to it, she suddenly lost her balance and fell backwards. When she opened her eyes, Newt was standing nearby, with a look of what was probably surprise on his face.

“I’m impressed.” Brenda assumed that he was being sarcastic, and given present circumstances, she didn’t blame him.

“It’s not like I’m the first person you’ve seen fall over.” She got up and brushed the dirt off her pants.

“You did a lot more than just fall over.” His expression was serious. “You did it.”

“I did what?”

“Those sounds you heard?” Brenda nodded reluctantly as he paused. “They weren’t sounds. You were feeling me earthbend, and you turned toward me each time I did.” Brenda didn’t know what to say. “I’ve never seen anyone pick it up so quickly.” He gently clapped her on the shoulder. “You’re a natural.”

“If I’m a natural, why did I fall over?”

Newt shrugged. “I threw a rock at you.” He gestured behind her, and she turned around, she found a rock twice the size of her head sitting on the ground.

“You tried to hit me with that?”

“Yeah, but you dodged it.”

“But my eyes were closed!”

“Yeah?”

“What if it had hit me?”

“It wouldn’t’ve.” He grinned, pointing at himself. “Earthbending master, remember?”

Brenda grumbled to herself. “I can’t believe you threw a rock at me.”

“I throw rocks at everyone. It’s in my job description. Only most of the time, I don’t miss.” Still grinning, he turned toward campus, with Brenda following him. “Besides, how’re you supposed to learn without a healthy dose of fear?” They giggled together for a second as they walked.

“Why did you invite me here?”

“Sorry, that’s a trade secret. If we just handed out that information, we would have a lot less fun finding students ourselves.” His tone was definitely sarcastic.

“But how did you even know I was an earthbender?” She was sure she hadn’t earthbent in front of him before today.

“I felt it.” He shrugged, like it was so simple. “What you did just now, you felt the earth. I can do it too.” His eyes sparkled for an instant, and she could tell he was going to say something cheeky. “Though I’m a bit better with it; I haven’t fallen over in ages.” Brenda blushed and grumbled some more as he kept going. “I can feel when people are earthbenders because they subconsciously earthbend all the time.”

“But…” Something didn’t quite make sense. “I wasn’t the only earthbender there. Why not pick one of the others? Some of them are a lot better than I am.”

Newt drew a necklace out from under his tunic and held it up for Brenda to see. It was a stone attached to a long plain black cord, and seemed to shimmer slightly in the sunlight. “Do you know what this is?”

“A rock?” It did look like a rock, after all.

“Close.” Newt was grinning again. “It’s a piece of a meteorite. I found it when I was 12. It looks like a rock, but it’s actually metallic.” He let go of it, but it stayed floating in the air. “Sometimes, when I’m close to other earthbenders, it’ll vibrate, weakly enough that I’m the only one who notices.”

“And that’s what it did with me?” Brenda eyed the rock warily as Newt nodded. “And that’s how you choose your students?”

“Don’t sound too disappointed.” He dropped the necklace back under his tunic. “You’re the only one I’ve found so far that it reacts to.”

“What does it mean?”

“It means you’re a metalbender.” He said it nonchalantly, but Brenda was floored. Metalbending was one of them most advanced forms of earthbending. Her tutor at home had talked about it like it was a myth; that only the strongest earthbenders had a chance to learn it. “That’s why we started with the seismic sense. Feeling the earth in other materials is the key to metalbending.”

“So, can you metalbend?” Newt nodded. “But I thought there weren’t any metalbenders left?”

“How pessimistic.” He pretended to take offense. “There are five of us, actually, as far as I know. But there are probably many more who just don’t know they are, like you.” He gestured casually in Brenda’s direction. “They just need to be taught, but there hasn’t been a metalbending school in almost a century.”

“Then how did you learn?”

“I’m a prodigy, remember?” And his sparkling eyes were back. “I don’t know why people seem to forget that. I do tend to mention it often.” His voice took on a faux-arrogance as he started counting off on his fingers. “Youngest earthbending master in the world, youngest metalbending master in the world, youngest bending instructor in the world, coolest bending instructor in the world–"

“Coolest instructor?” Brenda laughed.

“It has been said.” Newt chuckled too. “Just ask Alby.”

As they approached the dining hall, Brenda noticed an incredibly handsome guy about her own age, wearing the dark red tunic of the firebending students, walking towards them. His hair was dark, and his eyes were a warm brown. It almost looked like he was glowing, he was smiling so widely.

“Brenda, this is Thomas. We have a lunch date.” Thomas stuck out his hand to shake. “And this is Brenda, our newest earthbending student.”

“Lucky you. I hear Newt is a great teacher.” Thomas flashed a grin at Newt.

“He is.” Brenda thought they made a cute couple. “I’ll leave you two alone for your date.”

As she walked away, Thomas turned to look at Newt, beaming. “Tommy, it’s been a week. You don’t have to get so excited over lunch.”

“I can’t help it if my date is so dashing, or if he’s great mealtime company.”

“You just want to steal half my food.”

“True. But you just let me, so I don’t see a problem.”

Newt rolled his eyes as they went inside. It was true, after all. He hadn’t even tried to stop Thomas from stealing his food.

\--

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading! Thomas reminds me of Mako from Legend of Korra, so here's a picture of Mako for you.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Long time no see everyone! This chapter has been totally rewritten/expanded, and the new version posted on 22 August 2017. So if you haven't read it since then, find the new version below!
> 
> A couple of notes:
> 
> -Ora is a flying bison. At the end of the chapter, you'll find a picture of Appa, a flying bison from the Avatar: The Last Airbender show.  
> -The White Lotus is an organization from the Avatar shows that has a lot of responsibilities, one of which is to protect the Avatar when they're young.
> 
> Happy reading :)

“You might leave some for me?” Newt’s voice was sarcastic, but he was smiling widely.

“Sorry.” Thomas swallowed. “I love elephant koi.” He’d been absentmindedly picking bits of the seared fish from Newt’s plate for a few minutes, since cleaning off his own.

“I can see that.”

Thomas could feel his face heat up. “I’ll stop.” He put his fork down and pushed the plate back to Newt’s side of the table.

“No, it’s okay.” Newt pushed the plate back to the middle of the table, smiling almost adoringly. “I can always get more.” He rolled his eyes as Thomas eagerly scooped up another few bites of the fish, as they both were smiling at each other.

Thomas had been thinking of asking Newt if they could have dinner together some time, because he felt like dinner was a more serious commitment than lunch. And after all, a more serious commitment was exactly what he wanted with Newt. Looking up, seeing Newt grinning at him, eyes sparkling, Thomas opened his mouth to ask, but was interrupted by a tall blonde woman walking up right behind Newt, a stony expression on her face.

“Newt.” Her voice was stern and authoritative, and Thomas suddenly had the feeling that they were doing something wrong.

“Ava.” Newt was still smiling as he turned around, but as he saw the look on her face, Thomas could see his expression harden. He was afraid that maybe they really were in trouble.

“We need to talk. Now.” She turned to leave the hall.

“I’ll be back in a moment.” There was no trace of a smile or a laugh in Newt’s voice, and he didn’t even glance toward Thomas as he got up to follow the woman outside.

Left sitting alone, some of Newt’s koi still on his fork, Thomas no longer felt hungry.

\--

“Ava, what’s wrong?” Newt had followed her outside and to an empty corner of the open courtyard in front of the dining hall, and was looking more nervous than she’d seen him in a long time.

“There’s been a threat against the Avatar. A credible threat.”

Newt seemed to deflate, the tension draining instantly from his frame. “That’s what the White Lotus is for, Ava.” He looked almost disappointed. “They’ll handle it, I’m sure.”

“It’s a threat from Janson.”

Newt’s eyes steeled over again, the tension reappearing instantly. “How long ago?”

“Nearly half an hour.”

“We should leave now.” He turned back toward the dining hall. “Where are Jorge and Marcus?”

“At their grounds, probably. They don’t know.”

“You go get them. I’ll handle the students and meet you at the airbending grounds.”

He was gone, sprinting easily back across the courtyard to the dining hall before she could respond. Shaking slightly, dreading what was coming, she turned down the path to the firebending grounds.

\--

Newt had only been gone a minute before Thomas saw him reappear at the door to the hall. But instead of returning to his seat, he jumped onto a raised platform at the front of the hall. When he spoke, his voice was surprisingly loud, cutting through the noise of the students talking and laughing throughout the cafeteria. The playful tone that always seemed to be in his voice was conspicuously missing.

“Attention!” All the heads in the hall turned to him, all looking just as confused as Thomas felt. “I’m placing the school on lockdown. All students will return to the dorm immediately. Class heads will follow me.” His voice echoed slightly in the large room, before he jumped down from the platform and swept quickly through the doors. Thomas felt like there was a long moment of silence after Newt had left the hall, before Alby, Minho, Sonya, and Jeff jumped up suddenly to follow him. As they were leaving, Minho turned around to the rest of the students, who all were still unmoved from their seats.

“You heard him! Back to the dorm! Now!” Minho’s voice seemed to break the shock, as there was a sudden rush of students toward the doors. Thomas was closest to the door, and was the first to get out, just in time to watch the class heads run after Newt in the direction of the airbending grounds.

He considered following them, for some reason, when someone grabbed his arm and pulled him toward the dorm. “C’mon Thomas.” Harriet’s voice behind him was insistent. “We have to lock down the dorm.”

His last glimpse of Newt was of his shining golden hair disappearing behind the tress at the edge of the courtyard, as he let himself be pulled away.

\--

Newt looked nervously out over the edge of Ora’s saddle, down to the ground flying by beneath them. He’d always hated flying. Probably the only thing about him that you could call stereotypically earthbender; he felt much more comfortable with his feet on solid ground.

“Where are the White Lotus?” Marcus’ voice carried back to where Newt, Jorge, and Ava were sitting. “They should have noticed us by now.”

Looking down below them again, Newt thought he recognized the terrain. If they were as close to the Avatar’s compound as he thought, then Marcus was right. The White Lotus should have noticed them and had a squad of airbenders on them by now.

“They may have their hands full at the moment.” Ava’s voice was as collected as ever, even through the incessant blowing of the wind around them.

“We should be ready, then.” Marcus called again from Ora’s head. “I’m taking us down.”

As the ground grew larger under them, there was still no sign of the White Lotus. Newt felt a chill go down his spine. Something was very wrong.

As Ora was setting down in a clearing just outside the compound, Newt jumped off her saddle, landing on the ground next to her and finally feeling a bit less nervous, with his feet finally back on the solid ground again. Ava and Jorge climbed off Ora’s back once she set down, joining Newt on the ground as Marcus leapt gracefully from her head, landing with a light breeze beside Newt.

“Tell Ora to stay here.” Ava was whispering to Marcus. “And see if you can get a view of the inside of the compound.” She pointed up to a tree near the compound’s enormous walls.

No interception in the air was one thing, but no one on the ground either? Newt’s sense of dread was rising. This was very bad. When he spoke, his voice was quiet, but the others heard him well enough in the uncomfortable quiet of the clearing.

“We need to find the Avatar.”

\--

Pulled back to the dorm by the arm, Harriet had practically thrown Thomas into the firebenders’ quarters before disappearing back into the hall without a word. A second later, most of the other firebenders suddenly filled the room around him, whispering back and forth to one another, before Harriet came back in after them and started counting. The only firebender missing was Minho.

“Make yourselves useful and seal up the windows!” Harriet’s voice was less demanding than Minho’s when he was being authoritative, but the other students started to seal the windows just the same. Harriet stood at the door, looking down the stairs, probably waiting for Minho to come back from meeting with Newt, Thomas thought.

He got up to join her, watching as some of the others sat around quietly, or moved between windows, closing and locking them with thick metal shutters.

“Harriet, what’s going on?”

“I don’t know anything more than you do, Thomas.” She didn’t turn to look at him when she answered, still keeping her eyes on the stairs. “If you want to be helpful, you can help seal the windows.”

Turning away slowly, Thomas glanced around the room to watch how the few others were locking the windows, and started imitating them on the nearest one, looking over his shoulder often to check on Harriet, who didn’t move from her place at the doorway.

\--

“Well?” Jorge was always the impatient one.

“Give me a second.” They were both whispering. “It’s not magic. It takes time.” Newt was kneeling, his right hand spread flat on the ground, his eyes closed. Jorge and Ava were crouched behind him, watching him anxiously. Marcus was crouched a few feet away from the others, watching around the corner of the building, looking around at the others every few seconds.

They waited in silence for a few seconds, before Newt spoke again, still in a careful whisper. “There are four guards. Two are earthbenders.” His eyes were still closed.

“Are they Lotus?” Jorge still sounded impatient.

“How is he supposed to know that?” Ava’s voice was authoritative even as a whisper.

“No.” Newt cut them off confidently, opening his eyes.

“Are you sure?” Marcus’ voice was barely audible from behind Ava.

“Yes.” Newt took his hand off the ground and turned around to face the others. “One of them is a metalbender. I can feel him bending the metal on his sleeves. The White Lotus has no metalbending members.”

“So, how should we do this?” Marcus came up closer to them, apparently satisfied no one was coming from around the corner.

“If they’ve already replaced the guards out here, they must be inside the building too.” Newt could hear the frustration in Jorge’s voice, and he felt it too.

“Marcus, check the windows.” Newt pointed up to the upper floors. “If you find another way in, we’ll take it.”

“Will do.” Marcus got up quietly, and then was gone with a light breeze.

Newt turned back to Ava and Jorge. “While he’s gone, I’ll clear the door.”

“Why?” Jorge grabbed ahold of his arm to stop him. “If Marcus finds another way in, we won’t need to get through the door.”

Newt rolled his eyes. “And if he doesn’t, we’ll want a head start.” Jorge let go of his arm. “Besides,” Ava could see his eyes sparkling as he looked at her, “I haven’t met another trained metalbender in years.” As he turned away, towards the guards, he glanced back, and Jorge and Ava heard his voice quietly fade away: “It’ll be fun.”

“I swear, that kid has a death wish.” Jorge muttered under his breath, and Ava smiled to herself. It might be fun for Newt, but it wouldn’t be fun for the guards.

\--

Just as Thomas was closing the last window in the room, he heard footsteps coming quickly and heavily up the stairs, and Harriet moved out of the way for Minho to come inside. Behind him, running up the stairs to the other rooms, Thomas saw Sonya and Jeff, with the same hard, emotionless expression as Minho had on their faces.

As Minho came in, Harriet closed the door behind him, and the few whispering voices in the room quieted down. He had everyone’s attention immediately, and the way he kept glancing back at the door behind him was making everyone visibly nervous.

“Listen up everyone.” His voice wasn’t loud, but it felt like it echoed off the walls of the room in the silence. “The instructors have all left the grounds. Until they get back, we’ll be on lockdown. That means…” He looked around as he talked, to make sure everyone was listening. “…that no one is allowed to leave the dorm for any reason.”

“But when—“ Thomas felt like he was yelling into the quiet room “— when will they get back?” The sudden feeling of all the eyes in the room on him made him finish his question almost in a whisper.

“I can’t say.” Minho’s expression didn’t change.

“Where did they go?”

"I can’t say.” Again Minho’s expression didn’t change. His eyes seemed to be focused on something else, and he glanced back at the door behind him again.

“But…”

“Thomas. Enough questions.” The force in his voice and the eyes of the other students were enough to keep Thomas quiet, but his head was still buzzing with questions. What could have made Newt and the other instructors leave the school? And why did they need to barricade themselves in the dorm building while they were gone? It felt like they were in a bunker, with the heavy metal window shutters, the thick walls, and the blast door he had noticed on his first day, moving into the dorm. There had to be answers, right?

Minho glanced at the door behind him again, and then at Harriet. “We’re all meeting in the common room upstairs. Let’s go.”

\--

Creeping through the bushes, away from Ava and Jorge, Newt was careful to stay quiet. The element of surprise was the quickest way to win when you’re outnumbered.

He paused, with his feet flat on the ground, to check on the guards. He could feel the tiny vibrations in the ground, coming from the front entrance of the building, as the guards shifted on their feet. He could feel their breathing and their heartbeats, all accelerated. He smirked. They were nervous. *Very* nervous.

He could feel one of them adjusting his stance, digging his feet slightly into the ground, ready to brace himself against an attack. That one was the earthbender, Newt thought, the one farthest to the left. The next one, he wasn’t sure. Definitely not an earthbender. The one on the right was the same. He shrugged. He’d find out soon enough.

It was the one second from the right that interested him. Clearly an earthbender, he was braced strongly, obviously ready for an attack, but his stance was less sturdy than the first earthbender; he was still light on his feet somehow. It was the same stance Newt tried to instill in his students: grounded but agile. Newt could feel the metal in the sleeves of the bender’s tunic too, as it almost twitched along with the bender’s nervous breathing. Whoever he was, he was keeping his finger on the proverbial trigger.

Metalbenders who wore metal on their uniforms were something Newt had only read about. While fighting, they would strip pieces of the metal off their sleeves, or their shoulders, or wherever else they carried it around, and bend it into anything they needed: projectiles, handcuffs, knives, or even shields, instead of using raw earth. It was a style Newt had never learned, and given the lack of benders trained in it, one that Newt had never practiced against. He grinned. This was going to be fun.

Walking out of the bushes, Newt strolled down the path toward the entryway, casually approaching the guards there, who were standing together under a large overhang, flanked by two thick stone columns on either side. When they saw him, he could feel the two on the left relax, obviously not feeling threatened by a kid walking up the path. The one on the far right yelled at him to get back from the building, but the metalbender seemed less relaxed. Newt could feel him clench his fists, and watched as he narrowed his eyes, glaring at Newt suspiciously.

“I’m here to see the Avatar.” Newt’s voice carried easily over to the guards, who looked surprised he was so nonchalant. “You’re in my way.”

Before the others could laugh or threaten him, Newt felt the metalbender react, faster than Newt had expected, and it was oddly beautiful. The metalbender swept his arms forward in a graceful, practiced motion, releasing a sharp strip of metal from each his sleeves, and shooting them at Newt. Dodging smoothly to the left, Newt heard the metal strips strike the pavement behind him with a metallic whipping sound, as he kicked the rock under his feet softly with his right foot, knocking the two non-earthbenders off their feet, before ducking below another two metal strips, hearing them cut through the air next to his head.

Feeling the earthbender’s movements to his left, and anticipating the rock about to be thrown in his direction, Newt quickly pulled a wall up from the ground in front of him, before closing his eyes to feel the impact of the projectile through the ground. He could feel the force of the impact echoing through the earth around him, bouncing first off his own feet, then the off the feet of the earthbender. Newt smirked. He could feel the earthbender’s feet braced firmly with the ground, ready to endure a powerful counterattack. Classic, outdated earthbending, Newt thought, and just as well, too. A sturdy stance makes you all the more vulnerable. Reaching down with his left hand, digging his fingers into the earth, Newt heard the earthbender yelp, as he was suddenly swallowed into the ground.

Hearing the sharp pang of the metalbender’s shots against his wall, Newt opened his eyes, and with a quick jab of his knee, the wall in front of him cracked in half. With an upward pull of his left foot, the two halves jumped into the air, and he kicked them both towards the echoing footsteps of the two non-benders, who had stood to block the entrance to the building in front of him. Bringing his foot back down to stomp on the ground beside him, he forced the rock under the metalbender to jolt upwards, launching him into the air.

But instead of losing his balance, the metalbender did exactly what Newt would have done: he front flipped and landed easily on his feet, as Newt pulled a stone wall from the ground to block a fireball thrown by one of the benders still by the door to the building. But he wasn’t interested in the firebender or his friend by the door anymore. This metalbender, whoever he was, was good, and he had captured Newt’s attention entirely. It was time to find out just how good he was.

With a strike of his palm, Newt pulverized the rock wall in front of him into a thousand tiny pebbles, before showering the benders guarding the door with them, hearing many of them impact the heavy metal door behind them with sharp pings.

Facing the metalbender, Newt was ready for the strips of metal shot at him. They were bent into the shapes of knives, and were aimed at his throat. But reaching his hands up, Newt caught them in mid air, inches from his palms, and they changed direction instantly. Knives wouldn’t do at all though, Newt thought; too violent. So he reformed the small strips as they flew toward the guards at the door, landing perfectly across their eyes, like goggles, the force of their impact enough to push the two backwards into the wall behind them, and leave them crumpled unconscious on the ground, the metal bands still sealed across their eyes.

The metalbender’s face had fallen, his eyes wide. He hadn’t expected Newt to be a metalbender. Glancing up, Newt saw Marcus glide down from the building’s roof and land on the small overhang above the door. Deciding this was as good a time as any to end the fight, Newt reached out, feeling the metal in the metalbender’s sleeves, and squeezed, tightening the uniform around his opponent’s wrists, and with a twist of his arms sent him spinning to the side, into the wall of the building, where he fell unconscious to the ground.

Turning back to where he’d left Ava and Jorge, he called for them to come out. As they joined him, he lifted the earthbender he’d trapped out of the ground, lifting his hands lazily, before throwing him against one of the pillars, where the rock around him shattered and he too collapsed unconscious to the ground. As Marcus jumped down from the overhang, Newt leaned comfortably against the damaged column, grinning happily as Jorge and Ava walked up to the door.

“None of the windows are options. They’re locked up tight.” Marcus looked around at the unconscious guards, grinning. “But I see you got started here without me.”

“What happened?” Ava pointed at the strips of metal lodged in the ground around them.

Newt shrugged and gestured to the motionless guard lying against the building to their right. “He’s a metalbender. Pretty good with the imperial form.”

“Not good enough, apparently.” Jorge muttered.

“Not even close.” Newt was grinning, as he walked up to the front door. “Are we all ready?” He looked back at the others and got nods from each. Turning back to face the door, he took a deep breath, and with a single strong kick, the heavy metal door was knocked cleanly off its hinges. Just on the other side of the doorway, at the foot of flights of stairs leading up into the building, four men, stripped of their White Lotus uniforms, were lying motionless on the floor.

Ava knelt down beside them. “They’re alive. No serious injuries.”

“Do you hear that?” Newt’s face was scrunched up in concentration, looking at the ceiling. “I hear fighting above us.”

“Let’s go then!” Jorge led them up the stairs from the entryway.

As they reached the upper floors, one by one, Newt pointed them up again, until they reached the fourth floor, stepping over several White Lotus and other benders on their way there, all of which Ava announced were only unconscious. “It’s here.” Newt whispered. “Three people, down the hall on the left.”

“Right in front of the Avatar’s family quarters…” Ava was concerned, but her voice was still strong.

“Marcus first.”

\--

The students were all huddled into the common room, and remarkably quiet. Thomas had tried a few more times to talk to Harriet or Minho, but they and the nervous atmosphere together had managed to make him give up shortly after starting.

The students were mostly sitting on the floor on one side of the room, with Alby, Minho, and Sonya talking quietly on the other side, near the door. Jeff had left some time ago, and Thomas wasn’t sure where he’d gone.

It had already been nearly four hours at that point, and it was getting dark outside. Some of the other students had started dozing off or stretching out on the floor. Thomas had no idea how they could sleep. Was he the only one who wanted to know what was going on? Apart from the four class leaders, it definitely seemed like it, and he was only getting more frustrated as time went on, and he was stuck in the quiet room and expected not to do anything.

Across the room, interrupting Thomas’ stewing, Brenda, the earthbender Newt had been training before their lunch date that afternoon, suddenly sat bolt upright and gasped. It was especially loud in the quiet room, waking up most of the sleeping students, and making most of the room turn to look over at her in surprise, including Alby, who had turned away from Sonya and Minho to look at her curiously. She had covered her mouth quickly with her hand, but Thomas thought she still looked terrified. When most of the other students looked away, Thomas watched Brenda’s eyes widen as she turned to look at Alby. They made eye contact for a few seconds, before the silence was interrupted again when the building began to shake under them.

As everyone was bracing themselves, Jeff appeared at the door behind Alby, whispered a few words to the others class leaders, and then left again, followed by Alby and Minho. Sonya stayed behind, glancing around the room nervously at the students, whispering to each other restlessly.

The building shook again, stronger this time, and Sonya braced herself against the door. Taking a second to look around the room at the other students trying to find things to brace themselves against, she turned and followed the other class leaders out the door behind her. As soon as she was gone, Thomas jumped up to follow her. It was obvious something was wrong, and he wanted to know what it was.

“Where are you going?” Harriet tried to catch his arm as he got up, but missed. “Thomas!” He heard her call after him as he followed Sonya out the door.

On the landing, Thomas was lost. There were three doors, one of which led back down to the sleeping quarters, but the other two he wasn’t sure about. As he was trying to open the first of the mystery doors, Harriet joined him on the landing.

“Thomas, we’re supposed to stay in the common room!” It was clear from her voice that she was just as confused and scared as Thomas was feeling.

“I want to know what’s going on!” The door must have been locked, because it wouldn’t budge as he pulled it. Harriet turned him around to look at her, but whatever she had to say was cut off by the building shaking again, even more strongly this time. “There’s no way that’s an earthquake, Harriet! Don’t you want to know what’s happening?”

“Minho said –“ She was cut off again, this time when Brenda ran through the door from the common room and nearly knocked her over.

“Do you guys know what’s going on?” Her voice sounded even more nervous than Harriet’s, and hearing it made him all the more determined to figure out what was happening.

“No, but I’m trying to find out.” He shot a glare at Harriet.

“I think they’re on the roof. I can feel them.” Brenda pointed vaguely to the second mystery door.

“You guys do whatever you want.” Harriet was trying to sound in control, but didn’t quite succeed. “I’m going back to the common room, where we’re supposed to stay.” She poured all the emphasis she could into the last word as she left Thomas and Brenda on the landing, disappearing through the doorway behind them.

“Let’s go, then.” Thomas pulled open the middle door, which opened easily, revealing a narrow stone staircase leading up to what Thomas thought must be the roof above them. With Brenda following close behind, he started up it carefully.

\--

First through the door, Marcus was quick to unleash a massive gust of air down the hall, knocking two benders wearing White Lotus uniforms into the wall behind them with enough force to knock them unconscious. The third bender, wearing the same outfit as the other intruders they’d passed on the stairs, somehow managed to avoid the gust, before metalbending his entire shoulderplate at Marcus. Caught off guard, Marcus tried to dodge and blow the metal sheet away from him, but was still caught by it and pinned to the wall of the corridor. Following him through the door, Jorge threw a fireball at the metalbender, who blocked it easily by metalbending his other shoulderplate into a shield large enough to hide his entire body.

Newt was third through the door, and when he entered the hallway, he noticed at least fifteen White Lotus members motionless on the floor, along with four outsiders, all wearing nearly identical uniforms. Lodged in the floor and all along the walls were thin, sharp strips of metal, clearly the result of the same style of metalbending as the metalbender he’d fought outside. With a fluid motion of his right hand, the metal sheet that had been holding Marcus against the wall melted away, and Newt turned his attention to the new metalbender at the end of the hall. Clearly, his estimate of five metalbenders in the world was outdated.

Jorge had thrown three more fireballs down the hallways one right after another, but the metalbender had easily adjusted his metal shield to block them, before pulling pieces off it to create more thin knife-like strips. They were aimed for Jorge’s neck, and without intervention from Newt, they would have found their target.

But Newt wasn’t the only one who’d noticed the metalbender was out of Jorge’s league; Jorge himself did his best to get out of Newt’s way, so the two metalbenders could face each other, retreating back to where Ava was attending to a serious cut on Marcus’ arm that was bleeding profusely.

In the narrow hallway, Newt knew his regular acrobatics wouldn’t do him any good, and with the reality of the Avatar’s quarters within sight, he decided he didn’t have time to gauge this metalbender’s skills. He needed to be defeated as quickly as possible, and Newt had an idea of how to do it.

Pulling a chunk out of the stone wall, nearly the size of the corridor, Newt kicked it towards the metalbender, who responded exactly how Newt had hoped. Wrapping his entire metal shield around the rock, he pushed it into the wall beside him, just in time to see a stream of shining metal flowing down the hallway from Newt, around the rubble and spreading out to cover his entire body. With his opponent wrapped in metal, Newt pushed him up into the ceiling, and then down into the wall across the hall from the Avatar’s quarters. Jorge saw him take care to pin the metalbender’s hands, so he couldn’t bend. The fight had taken all of three seconds.

“I’ll check the Avatar.” Newt called back to the others as he began moving down the hall. “Jorge, make sure he doesn’t move.” As he passed the stranger, he pointed to him.

Jorge took up a position next to the stranger, and watched as Newt easily knocked the heavy metal door to the Avatar’s quarters off its hinges. Looking back at Ava and Marcus, it looked like the bleeding had stopped, and Ava had started tending to the unconscious White Lotus members near the entrance to the hallway.

“He’s better than I expected.” The arrogant voice of the metalbender caught Jorge off guard. “Much better. It’s good he didn’t stay behind. It would have been quite a surprise for the others.” His grin was evil, and a chill ran quickly up Jorge’s spine.

\--

“How many are there?” Alby’s voice was just loud enough for Thomas and Brenda to hear from inside the stairwell.

“Eight or nine.” Jeff’s voice was much louder; he must have been standing just outside the staircase. “At least, that’s how many I can see. I think they’re all earthbenders.”

“What do we do?” Sonya sounded further away.

“We have to do something!” Minho sounded more indignant than nervous. “They could collapse the building! We outnumber them four to one. We should fight!”

“We have no idea how strong they are.” Thomas could still barely hear Alby’s voice.

“We’ll find out.”

Brenda gripped Thomas’ arm suddenly from behind, just before the building seemed to nearly collapse, as they both lost their footing in the staircase. The voices above them all got suddenly louder, as though they had all moved closer to the staircase.

“The new students aren’t ready to fight anyone, especially not anyone like this.”

“Sonya’s right.” Even though he was closer to the door, Alby’s voice was still the quietest. “Some of them barely know the basics. We can expect them to fight anyone trained like these people.”

“Then we get the ones who are ready to fight, until the masters get back.”

“What choice do we have, Alby? If we don’t do something, they’ll bring the whole building down, and then where will we be?”

There was silence for a moment, and Alby must have nodded in agreement, because Minho thanked him and Sonya sighed, crestfallen.

\--

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ^This is a flying bison. They're giant and can fly, so Appa here was the primary method of transportation for the main characters in the original Avatar show.
> 
> Thanks for reading!


End file.
